Perhaps it's ridgy-didge after all

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Expert to the rescue ... John Opit in his studio with the controversial "Cezanne" .Photo: Paul Broben

It has taken a long time, but the Limpinwood art restorer John
Opit finally has some "expert" support for his claim that a
painting stolen from his studio last year is by the French
post-impressionist Paul Cezanne and is worth $50 million.

After police and experts in Brisbane and Melbourne dismissed the
painting as a fake, a self-styled Renaissance expert from
Greenland, Svend-Erik Hendriksen, has stepped forward to declare it
is not only genuine but a masterpiece.

Mr Hendriksen, who runs Greenland Art Research from the city of
Kangerlussuaq, made his claim based on the discovery of
"pentimenti", or hidden miniatures, inserted into paintings by
artists as a form of copyright.

He emailed the Herald this week, detailing what he said
was a bluebird secreted just above the feet of the young child in
the painting. He had found it on a photo emailed to him by an
Australian associate. The bluebird was one of many miniatures.

"I marked one of many hints 'a bluebird' just to show you that
London art experts don't know what they are talking about," he
wrote. "If you look very carefully at the son's face, you can see
an adult face. Cezanne actually tried to imagine his son as a grown
man.

"And you can actually see Paul Cezanne and his wife admire their
son through the window from an outside place.

"It is a Paul Cezanne without any doubt. The title seems to be
the problem, it's never mentioned among his works."

Mr Opit was, of course, delighted. He is trying to get a better
image of his painting - Paul Cezanne's Son in a High Chair -
to Mr Hendriksen for more analysis.

"It makes sense. I can see the details now he has pointed them
out. There are even figures pointing to Cezanne's signatures. It
shows I have been right all along."

Mr Hendriksen has also supported the case of the Queensland men
Ian Henderson and Barry O'Leary, who claim they have a work by the
16th-century Venetian painter Titian worth tens of millions of
dollars.

Mr Henderson has also spoken to Mr Opit and believes the Cezanne
is genuine, insisting there are other miniatures including an
eagle, a lion's head, an angry man and two people looking out of
the window in the background.